Aleman pleads not guilty

SAN BERNARDINO — The former top aid to the San Bernardino County Assessor pleaded not guilty to six felony counts Wednesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court.

Adam Aleman, of Rancho Cucamonga, is charged with three counts of preparing false evidence, one count of submitting altered documents to the grand jury, one count of destroying evidence and one count of vandalism over $400.

Each count holds a sentence between 16 months and three years, said John Goritz, deputy district attorney with the public integrity unit. He said calculating Aleman's maximum possible sentence, if convicted, depends on a lot of things.

After doing the calculations, Deputy District Attorney Richard Young said Aleman could face six years and four months in prison if convicted as charged.

Goritz said he turned 1,200 pages of discovery over to Aleman's defense attorney Grover Porter.

Aleman showed up in court with his fiancé Kelly Kuntz by his side. He entered his pleas of not guilty in front of Superior Court Judge John Martin, and then promptly left the courthouse.

Aleman did not return calls for comment.

Aleman, 25, was serving as Assistant Assessor under Bill Postmus and was making $120,000 a year.

Aleman was arrested on June 30 following an April 10 search of the assessor's office by investigators from the district attorney's office.

Aleman resigned on July 8, following a board of supervisors meeting where Chairman Paul Biane publicly called on Postmus to terminate his aid.